Package for pipe-cleaners.



PA'TBNTED JULY 24, 1906. A. SPBIRS.

PACKAGE FOR PIPE CLEANERS. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 27, 1905.

Inventor.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

- ALBERT SPEIRS, OF ATLANTIC ALBERT SPEIRS HIGHLANDS, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

NEW YORK, N. Y.,

Specification of Letters Patent.

r atented July 24, 1 906.

Application filed September 27, 1905. Serial No. 280,387-

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT SPEIRS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Atlantic such an extent as to render them useless for,

cleaning pipes, and therefore it has heretofore been practically impossible for a smoker to carry with him a supply of pipe-cleaners.

Having appreciated the foregoing disadvantages, I propose to overcome the same, and in this connection to provide for placing pipe-cleaners upon the market in an improved package for containing a predetermined number of pipe-cleaners say, for instance, one dozenin such condition that the pipe-cleaners will be maintained in their proper straight condition even when the packa 'e is carried in a pocket of the clothing. It is a so proposed to enable the convenient removal of any of the pipe-cleaners whenever desired without any opening or loosening of the package and also to enable the return of a used cleaner to the package without soiling or disturbing any of the other unused cleaners.

A still further object of the invention is to have the package operate as an advertising medium and to arrange for employing certain of the pipe-cleaners in the capacity of legs or brackets for supporting the package in an upright position, so as to fully display the advertising matter which is printed or otherwise provided upon the body of the packa e.

Wit these and other objects in view the present invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter more fully described, shown in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that changes in the form, proportion, size, and minor details may be made within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.-

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the package of the present invention supported in a displayed position by two of the pipe-cleaners. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the package with portions thereof broken away to disclose the arrangement of the pipecleaners within the cells or compartments of the package. Fig. 3 is an enlarged transverse fragmentary sectional View.

Like characters of reference designate corresponding parts in all of the figures of the drawings.

. The present package is in the nature of a flat open-ended rectangular box 1, preferably of such proportions as to conveniently fit within a vest-pocket, so as to enable the carrying of the package about the person. Within this box is a longitudinally-disposed corrugated partition 2, which extends from end to end and from edge to edge of the box or package, with the convexed sides of its corrugations pasted or otherwise secured to the respective front and rear sides of the package, thereby providing the latter with a series of longitudinal cells or compartments which are open at their opposite ends.

The front and back of the packa e maybe provided with any suitable or preferred advertising mattersuch, for instance, as indicated in Fig. 1 of the drawingsit being proposed to have such advertising include the price of the package and itsconte'nts.

Q Within each cell or com artment there is an ordinary chenille pi e-c eaner 3, made up of a wire core sheathe or covered with chenille or the like. Each pipe cleaner is doubled upon itself midway of its ends and thrust endwise into one of the compartments, the latter being of a length to entirely house the pipe-cleaner, so as to prevent bending of the latter by'handling of the package and also when the package is carried in a pocket. It is preferred to have the bends of the cleaners lie at one end only of the package and also to project slightly beyond the same, as clearly shown in Fig. 2 of the draw ings, so as to afford a sufficient fingerrasp to enable the convenient withdrawal 0 any individual pipe-cleaner from the package. It will of course be understood that each pipecleaner fits with sufficient snugness within its cell or compartment as to prevent the cleaner from working endwise out of the package. By bending each pipe-cleaner at its middle the length of the package for containing the bent cleaners is of a size to be conveniently carried in an upper vest-pocket, and the tendency of the bent cleaners to spread within their cells or compartments produces suflicient frictional engagement between the cleaners and the walls of the compartments as to prevent endwise displacement of the cleaners.

For the purpose of displaying the advertising matter carried by the packagefor instance, in show-windows, show-cases, upon counters and the likeeach of the terminal cleaners may be drawn outwardly at their free ends and then spread beyond the front and back of the package, as indicated at 4 in Fig. l of the drawings, so as to form legs or brackets for the support of the package in an upright position, so as to display the advertising matter carried thereby. The employment of certain of the pipe-cleaners as supports for the package does not in any manner impair the usefulness of the package and the cleaners, as the latter may be pushed back into the package without any injurious effect thereon. It will here be explained that it is proposed to put up a predetermined number of ipecleanerssay one dozenin each pac age and to place the packages containing the pipe-cleaners upon the market in this condition, whereby the purchaser of one of the ackages'may place the same in his vestpoc qet and carry the same with him at all times in order that he may have a pipecleaner at hand whenever required.

From the foregoing description it will be understood that the present device is a combined package and advertising medium and is equipped with pairs of leg members which are normally housed within the package when the latter is in storage and transportation and are capable of being drawn out to .support the package in position for displaying the advertising matter contained thereon.

Having thus describedthe invention, what is claimed is- 1. A combined package and advertising medium comprising a container having a plurality of open-ended longitudinal com artrnents, and a plurality of pliable pipe-c eaners snugly and removably fitted in the respective compartments and terminally accessible for Withdrawal from the container, certain of the cleaners capable of being partially withdrawn from the container to form legs for supporting the body in a displayed position.

2. A combined package and advertising medium comprising a fiat rectangular boX open at opposite ends and provided with a longitudinal partition which is longitudinally corrugated and defines a series of longitudinal open-ended compartments, and a plural ity of pliable pipe-cleaners, each cleaner being folded and thrust into one of the compartments with its open end accessible for-convenience in withdrawing the same, certain of the cleaners cap able of having their free ends projected beyond one end of the box and spread to form supporting-legs for the box.

3. A combined package and advertising medium comprising a container provided with advertising matter and divided into a series of longitudinal compartments which are open at opposite ends, and a plurality of chenille pipe-cleaners, each pipe-cleaner being folded substantially midway of its ends and thrust into one of the compartments with its bent end accessible for convenience in withdrawing the same, certain of the cleaners capable of having their free'ends projected beyond one end of the container and spread toward the front and back of thelatter to form supporting-legs for the container.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto afiixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ALBERT SPEIRS. Witnesses:

JOHN J. BOLAND, HENRY WAHL. 

